FILE 00129KThe fifth and final Stratford panel was about no dictatorship in particular, which means it was about us. Three scholars described an authoritarianism that arrives by election and governs by paperwork, then did something no panel all week had tried: they ran the stages of fascism backwards and built a checklist for dismantling one. Along the way they stress-tested this series' own arguments, defended the most unfashionable people in any democracy, and never got to the two questions I wrote on an index card. This essay answers the card.
FILE 00216KPope Leo XIV declared just war theory outdated while preserving 'the right to self-defense in the strictest sense.' The history of Italian fascism, retold this summer at the Stratford Festival, shows what that clause means in practice: the right to resist is real, but it expires. The moral question is not whether to fight. It is whether you act while resistance is still cheap, still legal, and still nonviolent.
FILE 00322KAs Mark Carney leads the Liberals to a surprise minority government victory, Pierre Poilievre faces a defining choice between continuing divisive politics or stepping into a more constructive opposition role.
FILE 0049KAs Canada faces economic challenges and a looming 2025 election, we examine why comparing government finances to household budgets is a misleading and potentially dangerous analogy.
